604 



GEN 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



GEN 



34. GentianaVerticillata; Whorled Gentian. Corollas quin- 

 quefid, in whorls eight together; stem scarcely a hand high, 

 round, and somewhat woody ; branches opposite, extremely 

 simple, four-cornered, compressed, smooth and even; leaves 

 subsessile, lanceolate.smooth and even, longer than the inter- 

 nodes of the branches; flowers sessile. Native of the East In- 

 dies. For its propagation and culture, see the first species. 



35. Gentiana Maritima ; Procumbent Sea Gentian. Co- 

 rolla five-cleft; styles twin; stem dichotomous, few-ftowercd; 

 the calix is permanent, and not easily separable from the 

 corolla. There is a variety with two flowers at top, one termi- 

 nating, the other lateral, sometimes bifid or three-flowered, 

 the lateral flowers equally peduncled, the middle one sessile. 

 It is an annual plant, flowering in May in its native coun- 

 tries, but with -us in July and August. Native of the sea- 

 coast of the south of France and Italy ; about Naples ; near 

 Tefflis in Persia; and every where on the shores of the Euxine, 

 where it usually has white corollas; it has been found also in 

 the Azores. See the first species. 



36. Gentiana Spicata; Spiked Gentian. Flowers alternate, 

 sessile ; corollas five-cleft. This is an annual plant, with 

 an upright stalk, about a foot high, sending out several 

 branches towards the top; the flowers are produced from the 

 side and the top of the stalk, in loose irregular umbels, 

 they are white, and about the size of those of common Cen- 

 taury ; it frequently has purple corollas. Native of the south 

 of France and Italy. 



37. Gentiana Verticillaris ; Rounded Gentian. Flowers 

 in vhorls; corollas five-cleft; stalk extremely simple; root 

 perennial; stems several, a hand high, jointed; leaves lanceo- 

 late ; flowers sessile ; the nectary a roundish scale, annexed 

 to the base of each filameutum, within the tube of the co- 

 rolla. Native of America. 



38. Gentiana Quinqueflora; Five-flowered Gentian. Co- 

 rollas five-cleft; stalk acute-angled; leaves ovate, stem- 

 clasping; stem undivided and four-cornered, with the corners 

 membranaceous ; leaves three-nerved, sharp ; peduncles op- 

 posite, being at the end; five flowers on very short pedicels. 

 Found in Pennsylvania by Kalm. 



/ 39. Gentiana Scilloides; Squill-like Gentian. Corollas five- 

 cleft ; stalk one-flowered, prostrate, branched ; leaves obo- 

 vate, obtuse, three-nerved. It is a foot in height, tender, and 

 very smooth, with but few branches; leaves subpetioled, 

 small, the upper ones more so, remote; peduncles long, naked, 

 terminating, one-flowered; bractes in pairs, below the flower, 

 opposite, awl-shaped, upright; calix linear; tube of the co- 

 rolla funnel-form, longer than the calix ; border flat, beard- 

 less, yellow. Found by Masson in the Azores. 



40. Gentiana Aphylla ; Leafless Gentian. Corolla five- 

 cleft, salver-shaped ; stalk leafless. This is a very small, 

 filiform, annual plant, scarcely branched; stem upright, sim- 

 ple, four inches high, tender, shining, straw-ooloured, witli 

 opposite, very short remote stipules at the joints; Hower ter- 

 minating, solitary, erect, yellowish, inodorous. Native of the 

 mountainous woods of Martinieo, where it is found in the 

 hollow of trees, scarcely pervious to the light. 



41. Gentiana Amarella; Autumnal Gentian. Corollas 

 salver-shaped, five-cleft, (sometimes four or even three cleft,) 

 bearded at the throat ; segments of the calix five, equal ; 

 root annual, twisted, yellowish ; stem square, erect, bearing 

 several pairs of sessile, ovate, three-nerved, dark-green leaves, 

 and clothed from top to bottom with flowers, on short, axil- 

 lary, forked side-branches, one being terminal ; calix pale, 

 with green ribs, and divided half way down into five, lance- 

 olate, nearly equal segments ; tube of the corolla twice as 

 long as the caliz; segments of the border five, rarely three 



or four, horizontal when the sun shines, the orifice crowned 

 with a purple upright fringe, which conceals the stamina 

 A variety, under the name of the Taller Autumnal Gentian 

 with ccntaury-like leaves, is said, in Ray's Synopsis, to have 

 been found near Welwyn in Hertfordshire, and Belchamp 

 St. Paul in Essex ; but it does not differ in any thing essen- 

 tial from the other. It flowers from July to September, 

 though Ray says earlier. It is not uncommon in calcareous 

 soils, and in dry pastures, in most parts of Europe. 



4:2. Gentiana Auriculata ; Eared Gentian. Corollas four 

 and five cleft, bell-shaped, villose within, the alternate seg- 

 ments cordate. Upright, almost simple, a foot or less in 

 height: root slender, somewhat woody: stalk subquadrangu- 

 lar, a little contracted : root-leaves smaller than the others, 

 ovate, attenuated towards the base; the lower stem-leaves 

 resembling these, the rest.very remote from each other, oblong, 

 five-nerved, sessile ; the uppermost somewhat clasping, and 

 more lanceolate, they are all paler underneath, and sometimes 

 purplish : flowers five on the top of the stalk, between two 

 pairs of leaves, on very long peduncles, and sometimes from 

 the next axils accessory little branches, having two or three 

 flowers, and one pair (if leaves. Near the sea it branches very 

 much, and grows large ; the farther it recedes from the sea, 

 the smaller it becomes, insomuch, that in mossy wet situa- 

 tions inland, it is hardly an inch high, slender, and one-flow- 

 ered. The maritime plants have generally the corolla violet or 

 reddish; on open heaths, at a distance from the sea, it is pale 

 blue or white; and in marshes, commonly blue. It is found 

 throughout all Kamtsehatka, the islands towards Japan and 

 America, and on the shore of America itself. The herb, 

 both fresh and dry, is used by the natives as a stomachic 

 and antiscorbutic, and against vernal diarrhoeas, caused by 

 feeding on fish ; it is not, however, so bitter as some of the 

 other species. It flowers in the beginning of August, and 

 perfects its seeds in September. 



*** Corollas not five-deft. 



43. Gentiana Campestris; Field Gentian. Corollas four- 

 cleft, bearded at the throat; calix four-leaved, the two outer 

 segments very large. Although both Linneus and Scopoli 

 pronounce this and the forty-first species to be one and 

 the same, others have no doubt of their being perfectly dis- 

 tinct; the calix consists of four separate leaflets, the two 

 outer oval-lanceolate, very large, the inner lanceolate, some- 

 thing membranaceous, but one-fourth the breadth of the 

 outer ; the flowers also are larger than those of the Amarella, 

 though the plant is generally smaller. Haller describes it 

 as extremely branched, and there are specimens in England 

 branched from the root to near the top ; the branches long, 

 with leaves and flowers scattered the whole length ; but 

 Amarella has the branches short, even the lower ones not ex- 

 ceeding the length of the leaves from which they sprang, the 

 upper ones in general are much shorter: it is rather paler 

 in colour, and never so tall as Amarella ; the stem being less 

 drawn up, the flowers fewer, and on longer flower-stalks, 

 they appear more corymbose : but the essential mark of dis- 

 tinction is in the calix being deeply divided into four un- 

 equal segments, two external, opposite, oval, very large, com- 

 pletely enfolding and concealing the two others, which are 

 lanceolate, and not a fifth part of their breadth. Linneus 

 and Pallas say, that the poor natives of the countries where 

 it is found, use this species instead of hops, and as a medi- 

 iii common with many others of the same genus. In 

 the English Botany, it is observed, that it grows in pastures, 

 more particulaily towards the sea, and that it is not so much 

 confined to a calcareous soil as the Amarella. Linneus says, 



